A 33-year-old South Philadelphia woman is dead and an unidentified hit-and-run driver remains at large following a fatal rush-hour collision between a truck and a pedestrian in front of a Northeast Philadelphia prison on Dec. 23.

A former Philadelphia police dispatcher has been sentenced to prison for selling confidential information about motor vehicle accidents to the operators of several tow truck businesses, including one in Frankford.

A Philadelphia police radio dispatcher is facing up to 35 years in federal prison after pleading guilty on Monday to bribery, fraud and conspiracy for selling classified traffic accident information to a Frankford tow service.

Philadelphia motorists know that it often seems like private tow truck operators know about traffic accidents before even the police do. On Friday, federal prosecutors offered an explanation as to why at least one local towing service often got the jump on the competition.